Saving the Vaquita Porpoise

For the Vaquita Porpoise: Operation Milagro © Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

In Mexico's Gulf of California, Sea Shepherd removed more than 1,000 illegal gillnets over the last six years. Gillnets are meant to kill the endangered totoaba sea bass, desired for their swim bladders that are worth up to $100,000 a kilogram on the black market.

The vaquita, the smallest porpoise in the world, lives only in the waters of the northernmost tip of the Gulf of California — one of the most biologically diverse bodies of water on the planet. To save the vaquita, Mexico placed a moratorium on gillnet fishing. The vaquitas are easily trapped in these gillnets. Unable to surface for air, they drown.

Learn more at seashepherd.org/milagro.